2009 to 2018 I had no gainful full time job offers. I applied by resume for over 300 brick and mortar jobs requiring manual labor. I had 80 k hours on the job experience in over 10 different trades. 2018 I was hired full-time in a small machine shop as a go-for. The shop went from 5 to 28 employees starting in 2016. The only thing different between 2009 and 2016 was Trump. (I didn't vote for the first time in my life in 2016 because of disillusionment.) I traveled 3 states to other small manufacturers in mill towns once abandoned who were pushing multiple shifts to maintain work orders. Anyone who wanted work became necessary again. A freak brain injury sidelined me in 2019. I went back to part time in 2022 until 2024 when I was unable to manage working a 4 hour shift. When I worked at Home Depot for 4(2014 to 2018) years they were full of white collars abandoned by the market. I referred to Home Depot as the island of misfit boys. They hired anyone abandoned by market interruptions and economic downturns.

Aging out of job opportunities is not a pleasant experience. In 2009 the handwriting was on the wall. Old age and poverty were highly likely for my future. 51 and a permanent back injury sidelined me from making good money in the trades any longer. I laid out my options. Suicide was one. If not for my daughters and grandsons I may have opted out. The opioid epidemic coupled with alcoholism and downturn in economy had claimed 25 people I knew in a similar disposition as I was in. Fortunately I was 5 years sober and managed to survive. Currently 21 years sober living on SS age 67. What I saw for my future in 2009 was accurate.